


July 23rd

by rashisama



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Fluff, No pairing - Freeform, happy birthday sasuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 07:51:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rashisama/pseuds/rashisama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke only allows himself one time a year to indulge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	July 23rd

Sasuke Uchiha never asked for anything for his birthday but he'd always get a cake ("I don't like sweet things") , some tomatoes (he was secretly happy about extra tomatoes) and some weapons ( not as good as Neko-baa's).

He'd get these presents from friends and later family. Naruto would invite Sasuke out for a drink every July 23rd evening after the war, even going so far as to send a hawk to wherever Sasuke was at the time to extend the invitation.

Sasuke always preferred to be alone for his birthday evening, no one knew why. Naruto and Sakura would speculate but never understood. Sasuke allowed a present for himself that he liked to indulge in only once a year.

He allowed himself to remember.

Only on July 23rd, no time else.

Not Itachi’s birthday, not on his mother's or father's, certainly not on the 'anniversary' of the clan massacre. He just did it on his birthday, it was one way he could try to re-create the joy he felt as a child on his special day.

He would remember all of the good times with his family, all of the love that he never truly realized was around him. Him playing with Itachi and Shisui. Cooking with his mother. Training with his father. All of those little moments that made his childhood seem so blissfully happy to him now.

Now that he had Itachi's eyes he could 'see' Itachi's memories too. He saw them with a clarity that almost felt like he was living it.  
There were precious few happy memories in Itachi's mind. Most were about Sasuke. Sasuke smiling, Sasuke laughing, Sasuke loving him, just Sasuke. There were some memories of his mother's smile, his fathers pride in him. It didn't even hurt Sasuke that he never really saw such a side of his father, he was happy seeing Itachi excel as the genius he was.

There were some of Itachi's memories that he really treasured. Scenes of Itachi just living. Taking a walk in the forest, eating dango, going to tea houses. (If Sasuke recognized any certain tea house he resolved to go there and try the tea that Itachi had)

Sometimes Itachi would pass in front of a mirror and Sasuke would pause on that moment, like a video. He'd drink in the sight of his brother. He looked sad and towards the end, sick. But Sasuke was just happy to see his brothers face. All other trace of the man that was Itachi Uchiha was gone, destroyed after Sasuke left the village. No one expected Sasuke to mourn him, no one thought that an S-class criminal would ever be considered a hero. This was Sasuke's only chance to see his beloved brother again and he only allowed himself that privilege once a year.

Sasuke had it down to an art, to filter out the bad memories and only focus on the good. He lived through them for one night only.

On July 24th he'd wake up as usual and go about his day, the memories locked away for another year.


End file.
